Our own native Hong Kong: Native activist Meaghan Walker-Williams says Canada's First Nations are desperately in need of an economic foundation. Her plan, the Coast Salish Free Trade Model, may be an answer.
National Post
Friday, January 5, 2001
Section: Financial Post: Editorial
Byline: Meaghan Walker-Williams
Source: National Post
Members of First Nations, who own large amounts of land and vast natural resources, should be some of the richest people in the world. They aren't. On average they are massively unemployed, desperately poor and extremely disenfranchised. Hong Kong, a barren rock in legal limbo, sort of belonging to Britain and sort of belonging to China, should have become a garbage dump. It didn't. In 50 years it went from Third World poverty to a higher income per capita than England.
Those First Nations who never signed a treaty, never ceded their rights, and never gave up their title, are -- like Hong Kong was -- in a sort of legal limbo. Not exactly Canadian, and not exactly sovereign entities either. After 200-plus years of legal shenanigans by Canadian politicians and leaders with all the integrity of circus sideshow barkers, First Nations have become almost as barren as Hong Kong was.
Since there are some interesting parallels -- legally and economically -- between First Nations and the Hong Kong situation, why not have a little Hong Kong here?
Oh Canada, can you imagine it? Indian reserve shanty towns of Third World conditions, with 85% unemployment, squalor, poverty and massive dependency, would be transformed into meccas of economic growth, boom and prosperity. Pockets of free trade zones all across our home "on native land," where Canadians and Indians and international interests alike can come to do business, trade, shop, tour and create wealth for all those involved. Just as occurred in Hong Kong.
In that context, the question is not, "What do Indians have to trade?" The question is, "How could First Nations in Canada, with very little to trade themselves, take advantage of their constitutionally protected rights to become the place where other people trade?" Now that is a situation ripe for wealth creation.
How would it work? There are a number of political, legal and economic hurdles to overcome. The Coast Salish Free Trade Model, which I developed with the help of various other Salish, and law and economics professor David Friedman of the University of Santa Clara, follows.
A First Nation in Canada that never signed a treaty could assert its right to engage in free trade with other nations from around the world under sections 25 and 35 of the Canadian Constitution. On reserves, First Nations and those visiting would not be subject to any form of taxation. Businesses and individuals seeking such an environment would be welcome.
The niches likely to find this free trade zone attractive are financial services, including foreign banking, tourism and hospitality, imports of raw materials, light manufacturing, exports, software and various technology outfits and entertainment.
We would require every business that comes to a free trade zone to do three things only. First, they would need to provide modest equity in their operations to individual band members, giving band members an interest in the success of the foreign business and creating a higher expectation of success than currently exists in most First Nations joint ventures with outside enterprises. Next, they would have to provide employment and training that is culturally sensitive to the needs of First Nations in that territory, and hire a percentage of First Nations to work in that business. We see this as a voluntary exchange: Businesses would provide skills development in exchange for protection from intrusive, tax-hungry non-native governments.
Third, as businesses taking advantage of the opportunities afforded by a free-market economy in North America become profitable, we would require that a portion of the dividends be distributed to all band members via the establishment of a perpetual trust. This trust, similar to the Alaska Permanent Fund, would replace government spending, giving the federal and provincial governments an incentive to co-operate in our move to laissez-faire.
Ultimately, the Coast Salish Free Trade Model would provide good economic results, and not just for First Nations. Land values around reserves would naturally go up -- as well as lease values on reserves. Reserves would become magnets for international investment, which would ultimately benefit Canada's economy. Look at how Hong Kong's economy provided prosperity and uplift to its neighbours. Permitting First Nations this level of autonomy would allow non-native Canada to keep its mixed market economy -- whatever you non-natives decide -- while enjoying the benefits of a free market in its backyard.
The solution gives no special group more rights and privileges than any other group. If non-First Nations of the Canadian population wish to engage in free trade, they are more than welcome to come and do business in our territory. We not only won't stop them, we will embrace them with open arms. Not only does the "Hong Kong Here" idea suggest that First Nations should enjoy these rights, it suggests that ALL people, of every nation should enjoy these rights, and we are the first nation that wants to make that happen.